FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO WINDSOR SQUARE, CLICK HERE

South Plymouth Boulevard
500 block



501 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lots 13 and 14
  • Built in 1908 at 3250 Wilshire Boulevard; BP for house issued 2-20-1908
  • Original commissioner: attorney Henry W. O'Melveny
  • Architects: Sumner P. Hunt and Wesley Eager
  • House moved to 501 South Plymouth in 1930 by O'Melveny for continued use as his own home; relocation BP issued 4-8-1930
  • BP for new garage issued 4-22-1930; BPs for greenhouse and lath house issued 8-15-1930; BP for potting shed issued 9-3-1930
  • Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #756
  • FOR A COMPLETE HISTORY, PLEASE SEE 3250 Wilshire Boulevard







504 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lots 33, 34 and northerly 60' of Lot 32
  • Built in 1919; BP for house issued 5-24-1919; for garage–servants quarters issued 10-30-1919; for garden pergola 4-5-1920
  • Original commissioner: oil producer William M. Armstrong; initial permit for house issued in the name of his wife, Dove W. Armstrong. While awaiting completion, the Armstrongs rented 129 Fremont Place
  • Architect and contractor: Meyer & Holler a.k.a. The Milwaukee Building Company
  • A BP to shift the position of the garage–servants quarters was issued to Armstrong on 5-4-1925
  • A BP for a lath house was issued to Armstrong on 6-25-1925
  • Film director Robert Aldrich moved to 504 South Plymouth by the spring of 1956; he hired no less of an architect than John Lautner to carry out some interior revisions. Aldrich filed for divorce in 1964, the house reportedly being settled upon the former Mrs. Aldrich when the decree came the next year
Initially addressed 510, the William M. Armstrong house was seen
under construction in the Los Angeles Times on 9-21-1919. The initial
property included just 10' of Lot 32; it appears that Armstrong acquired
an additional 50' of Lot 32 in 1926 when former U. S. Senator Lee Mantle put
together his parcel for 528 next door, which included the remaining 30'
of Lot 32. The total street frontage of 504 remains 250'. Below: As
featured in the Los Angeles Evening Express on June 3, 1922.








523 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 15
  • Built in 1925; BPs for house and garage issued 6-8-1925
  • Original commissioner: Charles S. Ullman
  • Architect: Paul Revere Williams
  • Contractor: Whiting, Boynton & Potts
  • Mrs. Ullman sued her husband for divorce in January 1926, charging that, despite affluence, he only begrudgingly allowed the family to live in a style she considered suitable. She got the house and proceeded to marry widower and neighbor Henry W. Louis, who sold 456 South Plymouth Boulevard and moved into 523 with his bride






528 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 60' of Lot 31 and southerly 30' of Lot 32
  • Built in 1926; BPs for house and garage issued 4-28-1926
  • Original commissioner: former U. S. Senator from Montana Lee Mantle
  • Architect and contractor: David F. Picken
  • After a short stay, Mantle moved to a new house at 635 Rimpau Boulevard in Hancock Park
  • Real estate operator Ralph Emerson Filcher bought 528 South Plymouth from Lee Mantle; he died there on 7-21-1929. His widow Kathryn was still living at 528 when she died on April 9, 1961







535 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 16 and northerly 45' of Lot 17
  • Built in 1917; BP for house issued 4-17-1917; for garage 8-17-1917
  • Original commissioner: Mrs. Horace Boos
  • Architect: Plummer & Feil (Charles F. Plummer and Joseph L. Feil)
  • Mrs. Boos's husband was one of four Boos brothers, owners of a Los Angeles cafeteria chain, three of whom would occupy Windsor Square houses. Horace left 535 South Plymouth after building a new house on Hudson Street in Hancock Park in 1925; he died in July 1926. That spring, Henry had moved to 545 South Plymouth, next door to his late brother's former home, coming from a house at 454 South Windsor, while Cyrus bought Clara Shatto's former home at 555 South Irving
  • The original porte cochère on the south side of the house was replaced with additional ground-floor living space in 1986 (BP issued 5-9-1986); a second story was added to this room in 2004 (BP issued 3-9-2004). In 2002, the original garage was converted to a recreation room (BP issued 10-18-2002); on 10-21-2002, a BP was issued for a new, northside porte cochère; this, however, was not built until 2014 (BP issued 7-10-2014)  


Featured in The Architectural Digest (Southern California Edition) in 1922, 535 South Plymouth
 is seen with its original porte cochère; just visible at far right is one of the original
monogrammed "Windsor Special" three-light streetlamps; today, the base
of this lamp (or an identical replacement) is in the same spot, now
topped by the familiar single urn-shaped globe.






538 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 30' of Lot 30 and southerly 30' of Lot 31
  • Built in 1963; BP for house with two attached garages issued 6-19-1963
  • Original commissioner: lighting designer Sidney Dorner
  • Architect: Jack Chernoff
  • Southerly garage converted to game room in 2010; BP issued 3-31-2010







545 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 18 and the southerly 45' of Lot 17
  • Built in 1921; BP for foundation issued 5-13-1921; for house itself 6-13-1921; for garage–servants' quarters 8-12-1921
  • Original commissioner: confectioner Walter M. Petitfils, who acted as his own contractor
  • Architect: Charles F. Plummer
  • Petitfils moved to 545 from 2201 South Harvard Boulevard in West Adams, later the home of actress Hattie McDaniel
  • In an apparent swap of houses, Henry Boos acquired 545 in 1926 (Boos's brother Horace had built 535 next door in 1917 [q.v.]); Petitfils moved to Henry Boos's house at 454 South Windsor Boulevard 
  • Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #835


The house that food built: In a report on its sale to restaurateur Henry Boos, confectioner
Walter M. Petitfils's house was seen in the Los Angeles Times on 5-30-1926.







546 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; the southerly 60' of Lot 30 less an irregular southeasterly portion belonging to 552 South Plymouth but including a narrow northwesterly strip of Lot 29
  • Built in 2000; BP for house with attached garage issued 12-8-1999; the current house replaced one built in 1962 by Theodore K. Millhauser who died in 1998. BP for that residence and separate studio building issued 6-6-1962; the contractor was William A. Lundeberg, who built 355 South Irving and 4665 West Fourth around the same time. Demolition BP for original 546 issued 11-9-1999







552 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 29 and southerly 60' of Lot 30; the southerly 60' of Lot 30 became part of the property later occupied by successive houses addressed 546 South Plymouth; a narrow northwesterly strip of Lot 29 also became part of 546 while an irregular southeasterly portion of Lot 30 remained part of 552
  • Built in 1914 at 3558 Wilshire Boulevard; BP for house issued 12-22-1913, for garage 3-14-1914
  • Original commissioner: dentist and real estate investor Shelley H. Tollhurst; purchased by movie producer and exhibitor Sol Lesser in 1922
  • Architects: Sumner P. Hunt and Silas R. Burns
  • House and garage moved to 552 South Plymouth in 1924 by Lesser for continued use as his own home; relocation BPs for house and garage issued 1-2-1924; Kress House Moving Company in charge
  • FOR A COMPLETE HISTORY, PLEASE SEE 3558 Wilshire Boulevard







Illustrations: Private Collection; LAT; LAEE; The Architectural Digest; MLS